By Marley Malenfant/se news editor
50 Cent must have taken his losing album sales to Kanye West hard.
His new album, Before I Self Destruct, is a mass improvement, much like his Get Rich or Die Trying album.
Unlike Curtis, his last album, Before I Self Destruct is dark.
For instance, the track titled “Then Days Went By,” complete with the Jackson Five sampling “Ain’t No Sunshine,” is 50 Cent at his best when he’s in storytelling mode.
“She was 20, I was 12, man my Nana said she raped me. I jus’ smiled from ear to ear, sayin’ take me baby take me.”
On the Dr. Dre-produced “Death to My Enemies,” 50 gives more of the tough guy talk that made him infamous.
What’s a 50 Cent album without a “dis” track? On “So Disrespectful,” he throws lyrical jabs at his old groupmates Young Buck and The Game.
50 Cent talks more about his drug-dealing past on “Stretch,” telling how he got some of America’s favorite superheroes high.
“I got Spiderman high, I made Batman fly! Your favorite hero took a hit! Now here you try! I don’t care if it’s a sin! I don’t care if you’re 10! Look around kid! It’s a cold world where in!”
On another Dr. Dre production “Psycho,” 50 Cent and Eminem seem to have never lost their chemistry. If Hannibal Lecter and the Candy Man could rap, this is what it would sound like.
On the Ne-Yo assisted track “Baby by Me,” 50 Cent tells women all over the world that having his child will make them millionaires.
50 Cent talks about his highly publicized ex-girlfriend on “Do You Think About Me.” The song is supposed to bash his ex but comes off as an R&B song.
“That’s what my ex, my ex you don’t want to be her. She used to have the Beemer, now she own a sneaker. I had her eating lobster, now she eating pizza.”
Before I Self Destruct is 50 Cent’s best work since The Massacre.
There’s even a bonus 90-minute movie packaged with the album, containing the same title.
Most of the production on the 16-track album is great as 50 Cent goes for more unknown producers, and their work does not disappoint.
